The Call

Film Details

Actors: Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin, Michael Eklund

Director: Brad Anderson

Classification: MA

Rating:

The Call is a typical crime thriller with a most unexpected crime fighter. Instead of super cops and super heroes, director Brad Anderson's film gives us a humble emergency call centre operator. Everyone who's in distress needs to call the emergency number, but it's very rare for us to get a story about the people on the other end of the line.

Halle Berry plays Jordan Turner, an LAPD 911 phone operator and instructor. She's at work on the day teenager Casey Welson (Abigail Breslin) gets abducted in a shopping centre carpark.

From the boot of a car, Casey is able to make a 911 call and speak to Jordan. Naturally this is a very traumatizing moment for the young girl, but it's also a struggle for Jordan. Six months earlier she took a call from another abducted teenager, and a mistake from Jordan led to tragedy. It's had a serious impact on Jordan's work and personal life. But she makes a direct connection with Casey, and provides support and assistance to the frightened girl. But will Jordan be able to save Casey, and lay her own demons to rest?

This small, low-budget film by Brad Anderson is based on an interesting concept. Screenwriter Richard D'Ovidio deserves praise for giving us a different take on a fairly straightforward crime story. The world of the emergency operators is brought vividly to life at the start of the film, and it's really intriguing to see them on the job and how they deal with some considerably stressful situations.

Halle Berry seems at ease in these scenes, and she's quite believable in the role. It's also fun to watch the communications floor, dubbed "the hive", buzzing with action.

Given that the film largely focuses on a single phone call between Jordan and Casey, there was a worry that The Call would be a visually unappealing film, lacking in any real tension or drama. Most of Halle Berry's scenes take place with her wearing a headset. But director Anderson makes the most of cross-cutting, and getting his camera into the action faced by the kidnapper and his victim.

The film also follows a team of police officers, led by Jordan's boyfriend, as they begin their manhunt across the freeways of LA. This helps to ratchet up the tension.

The film takes its liberties with logic, but for the most part its artistic license is no worse than any other crime drama. Casey has a cheap mobile phone, but boy does it have a super battery! And I love it how when Jordan is caught up in this drama, all the other 911 operators, who have been so busy up to now, can just sit around and stare at her in shock and awe.

These lapses are saved by nice playing from Berry and Abigail Breslin, who's most famous for her charming role in Little Miss Sunshine and a freaky, creepy turn from Michael Eklund as the kidnapper.

But unfortunately all these positive things are completely obliterated by the film's final chapter when Jordan leaves the call centre. The film becomes a different creature altogether, and the results are disappointing and stupid. The writer and director have spent a good hour getting us to know these two female characters, and they've developed a special bond.

All that is squandered at the end for a silly, hung-ho conclusion that has the film veering off from a taut crime flick into a dumb revenge, horror story. You might be like me, and left asking the screen "what happened to my movie?".

The Call has a good concept, begins really well, gives us two compelling characters, and manages to lose the plot, quite literally, at the end.